Lvoe others

Was this a fast week for all of you? Never enough time it seems to get everything done! But God's work is never done, so we have next week to continue.

We got our week started off great with our breakfast on Saturday. Tim, Sinotra, Myley all helped in preparing biscuits, bacon, eggs and hot coffee. We had a small group but the food went fast. Not much left overs to give away. Join us next month, May 18th.

We had good visits with our friends following breakfast. We even found Richard and he had lots of stories for us! Turner is enjoying his new radio Mr Scott got him, listening to the weather reports every day. Matt and Tim brought several of the guys to the center to wash clothes. Keep Catfish in your prayers, he had a bad week and was not doing well Saturday.

Got a phone call from one of our original group from the Wesleyan community from McNeese College in Lake Charles Monday evening. They want to bring another group the end of May and join in our fun. Very exciting, we have developed great relationships with our first group . Our community will benefit from the new hearts and energy of our new friends. 

Tuesday afternoon, Lomax, Joey, Krysten, Logan and a few others, took the children to Dairy Queen for their field trip, yumm! What a delicious trip that was!

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt led our men's Bible fellowship. Ran out of food because there were so many guys there! More and more men are coming from the various camps. God is working through Tim and Matt as they share their stories with the guys. Very exciting.

Wednesday afternoon, we met a friend at the center to check on our air conditioner units. Our chapel unit was low on freon and we will get that recharged next week. The rest of the units looked ok. God continues to bring folks into our family who want to share their skills with us.

We have lined up our workers for our summer feeding program. All folks from our community, Cornisha, daughter of Vonita, our supervisor, James will be our cook and Jasmine will be our server. This is a great opportunity to give our folks a way to earn some money and provide meals for our community during the summer. Lots of activity will be happening in and around the center this summer.

We talked to our roofer and hopefully in the near future, a new roof will be provided to the Bright House II. The cool thing about our new roof, is we may not have matching shingles! Mr Woods, our roofer is getting the shingles donated and he asked if it was ok if the shingles did not match. We told him, the more color we could get will make our house fit right in!

Thursday afternoon got started off with Abbey and her ladies making grocery bags for the community. We have increased our budget for Mr Scott to purchase more items from the Food Bank. We get more bang for our buck there, so the bags this week was larger than usual, very exciting.

Ms Abbie, Ms Dorothy and a new friend Ms Eloise, led us in music to get our worship started in chapel. Pastor Eddie shared the Word, reading from Psalm 1. Talking about two ways to live. Do we listen to the wicked or do we follow the teachings of the Lord? Mr Tom shared his gifts of cooking and everything was gone by the nights end.

Continue your prayers for Joe and Abbie. Joe came home Monday but is still a long way from feeling his best. Great to have him home, hopefully his recovery will go quicker now. Continue to lift up the Bollingers. Prayers for Mr Scott as he travels to Haiti. Don't know why he continues to go back so many times?! Must be the food or the sunsets! Maybe it's the people? Prayers for the camps as they continue to struggle with the challenges of life. Prayers for us to think of new ways we can bring the Good News to our community.

Matt read from Luke 6 Tuesday evening, talking about loving your enemies and not judging others. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you. Don't judge others and you will not be judged. Don't see the dust in your friends eye, without looking at the log in your eye.Hard rules to live by. In fact impossible to follow without Christ in our hearts. 

Our human tendencies are to do the exact opposite. How can we love someone who has wronged us? How can we love someone who calls us names? We can't and I think that is the point. In a world where we live, the world says, do whatever it takes to get ahead. Step over our fellow man, go around our coworker to get to that next step in the corporate ladder. What ever it takes, go for it, no matter who you hurt in the process.

Jesus is telling us, no that is wrong in God's Kingdom. We must lvoe our enemies, we must do good to those who curse us. How do we do that? Because the Holy Spirit is inside of each one of us. It is not mr brian, Momma T, Tim, Abbey that is lvoing others, it is Christ within us. As we begin to allow the Spirit to grow, it will become easier and easier to lvoe others who don't love us. 

Another reminder to me, it is not about mr brian but it is about God. The more we take our selves out of the equation and put Christ in the front, then all things are possible! What a concept! What a way to live and share the lvoe of Christ with others! If we don't do it, then our community will not find it in the world.

Hope your week is full of God's blessings for you and your family. Enjoy every moment, they are special. Amen.

Have you found the Kingdom?

If you don't like the weather we are having, just wait! We hear that phrase a lot in this part of the world. This week was no exception. From beautiful sunshine weather in the 70's on Monday, to wet, cold rain in the 40's on Wednesday. Then back to sunshine and the 60's Thursday. What a ride, hope your week was full of adventures!

We got our week started off with lots of activities on Saturday. Bright and early we had a big group of men from Mr Matt's church, Airline Baptist, mowing, trimming, weeding, cutting the grounds. What a special group of men, having no clue who we are, spending the morning working for us, what a huge blessing they were.

While they were working, some of us made our visits to the camps. Turner is doing fine, talkative for Turner! Robert and his camp were full of humor and stories. Still no sign of Richard. Tim and Matt visited the other camps and concluded their visits with Catfish. Catfish seems to be on the right track and doing much better. Glad to have our relationship going again with Catfish.

Later on in the afternoon, we had our first concert. Two young students from Parkway, members of Brookwood, sang and played the afternoon away,  a blessing to all who attended. What a treat to see young people sharing their talents for Jesus.

Tuesday afternoon, Joey and Lomax took some of the children to a movie for this week's field trip. Everybody had a good time.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community gathered for Bible fellowship. Mr Matt read from Luke 17. We talked about forgiveness, faith, thankfulness and the Kingdom of God. If a follower says he is sorry, forgive him, do we? The disciples asked Jesus, increase our faith, how do we do that? Only one of the lepers came back to Jesus and praise God for healing him, don't we do the same thing, taking God for granted? The leaders of the Jewish nation asked Jesus, where is the Kingdom of God? Jesus said, it is not something you can see or a place where you will say, here it is. Jesus said, God's Kingdom is within you, among you. Each one of you are a part of the Kingdom, because it is in you.

Wednesday afternoon, in the driving rain, the cold weather, Joey, Lomax and I visited a new friend of ours. One of our first interns, Ms Anna had begun a friendship with Joshua at the Yellow house. Joshua has moved not too far from us, so she asked us if we could visit with him to let him know we are a community to help young students like him. Hopefully we will begin a relationship with this young man and help him in his journey.

What an afternoon we had Thursday. About 4:45 I get a phone call from Pastor Willie, saying he was at the doctors office with his wife and could not make it for chapel. Noel agreed to say a few words and as he was preparing, Ms Dorothy sitting down in the back of the chapel began to sing. Then others began to sing and before you knew it the chapel was filled with such sounds of gospel music, you could not believe. Wes came to play the piano, he started playing and more of the community started singing. Just as we were finishing our songs, in walks Pastor Willie. He had us open the doors to the chapel, and more folks from the outside came inside! Unbelievable, what a blessing!

We had a new friend come by Thursday. Ms Jean, who runs Catholic Services from St. Cathrines, came by to see Ms Dawn and visit with us. She wants to see if we can all sit down together and share what each of us do and work together to serve the community. Very exciting to see where this cooperation might lead.

Following our chapel time, we were treated to some new helpers from Grace. The confirmation class joined us and helped, serve, passed out plates, washed the dishes, handed out grocery bags and cleaned the tables. Have never seen so many young people running around helping out. What a great Thursday meal.

Prayers continue for Joe and Abbie. Joe is still in the hospital. His recovery is very slow, trying to gain strength in his legs. He fell just as Joey and I visited with him Wednesday afternoon. So far, no details from the doctors on what caused Joe's seizures. Continue to lift up William and James as they deal with life. Prayers for Ms Dawn as she was under the weather Thursday. 

Remember, next Saturday, the 20th at 8:30 will be our breakfast. Don't want to miss that.

We have been asked by Pastor Eddie, to be one of his sites for a summer feeding program this summer. We are in the process of asking the community to help us run the program. Can't wait to see how it all goes.

Keep thinking about what we read in Luke chapter 17, talking about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is not something you will find, or see, but it is inside of us, among us. The center is not a place where you open up a door and find lvoe. You go in this room and find peace. If you sit in this chair, you will experience joy. The Kingdom is not a thing or a place you can see. The Kingdom is you and me. The walls of the center cannot show joy, only you can. The floors cannot provide comfort, only you can. The ceilings cannot show lvoe, only you can.

Folks don't go to Grace for the nice carpet or the comfortable chairs, they go because they have found something special through the people of Grace. The same can be said for our community when they come on Thursdays or Saturdays or any day of the week. They don't come for the white sticky chairs, or the tables all marked up by our creations over the years, they come because they know they will be respected and not judged.

They come because of each one of you are allowing the Kingdom of God to flow through you and show God's special lvoe to all. Thank you for continued passion is serving others and showing all, the Kingdom of God is real and alive in Cedar Grove!

Hope you all have a great weekend and joyous week! Amen.

Rose garden

Wow, it's Friday already! Hope your week was filled with many joys and blessings.

We made our way around to visit our friends who live outside. Turner was doing fine, no sign of Richard again, Robert was busy getting the day off his usual way. Dawn and Scott made the comment, the guys feel at ease with us enough to continue their habits whether it be good or bad. On one hand that is nice but on the other, the addictions continue. Jesus is needed mightily! Smokey was fine. Matt and Tim visited their guys and continue to share the lvoe of Jesus with them.

Easter Sunday morning was started at sunrise like so many before us, in an "egg"celent way! We had a small but faithful group of servants, who walked and hide eggs all over our neighborhood. Again, we saw vacant lots, vacant houses, that need some lvoe trash that needs to clean up, some thank you's from neighbors peering out the doors, what a blessing. Thanks to all for coming out and spreading the light of Jesus in our neighborhood.

Tuesday afternoon, Ms Lisa, Lomax, Mara, and Logan took some of the Small's children to the Norton Art gallery. This time they went inside to show the children all the displays. What a treat, thank you guys for making this happen.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt and the men of the community gathered for their Bible fellowship. Matt read from Titus chapter 2. Telling us to live our lives in a wise and right way and in a way that shows we serve God. So much of the world needs to see us living a life devoted to Jesus on the streets, in the camps, at the hospitals, in prisons, in our community.

Wednesday evening, Lomax hosted us for our family gathering. Great job Lomax in the preparation of the food, to providing a place where we can learn from each other and tell our stories. Dr Phil led our discussions on chapter 2 and 3 of his book, God works with patterns and Divine Intelligence. One sentence says, For success is not a miracle, it is simply an application of God's principles, working in diving order.

Thursday was another great evening of song, sharing, and food. Heather, Derrick and Richard led us in chapel, Momma T and Abbey supplied the food, new friends from Byrd high school served and cleaned up, Ms Lisa handed out the groceries. Another blessed evening.

Don't forget, we have a free concert in the chapel, Saturday at 2pm. We have Sunday supper at the Ackermans, at 6pm. There is a garage sale going on at Abbey's house, 1901 Horton, Sat morning 6 til noon. Proceeds going to another Haiti trip. Lots going on, come out and enjoy.

Continued prayers for the Bollingers, Cari getting tested this coming week to see if her treatments are progressing like they should. Continue to keep William and James in your prayers. They are trying to work things out for their apartment, while trying to deal with the pull of addictions in William's life. Prayers for safe travel, for Karl and Kelly as they take a trip, for Joey as he returns home after a week in the Atlanta area. Prayers for continued healing for Joe. He is out of intensive care, but struggling with dealing with his illness. Not knowing I think is as worse as knowing. Prayers for his family, that they take of themselves as they take care of Joe. Prayers for Isidora who continues to have back problems. Prayers for our family in Crowley. The youth leader, Julie emailed and said they are wanting to start a homeless ministry. Prayers that God will lead them and guide them in the direction they need to go. A friend of the Grace family, Amand a Sparks in her passing. Prayers for her family as they deal with their loss.

As Richard shared his story in chapel Thursday, he said, Jesus didn't promise us a rose garden. It got me to thinking, life is tough, life is hard, life has many challenges, many storms, how do we deal with them? We can try to deal with them ourselves, worry about them, fuss, get mad, get angry, what does that accomplish? If we try to deal with our storms on our own, then we are setting ourselves up for failure and misery. 

God didn't promise us a rose garden, but He did promise us His Lvoe, if we just accept it. Very simple, uncomplicated, just accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, then we will have some one to turn to in when we reach that wall where it looks like there is no hope. Your wall and my wall will look different. We talked about Wednesday night, no problem is too small or no problem is too big to take to the Lord. We just have to go to Him!

We can not go through life without the presence of Jesus in our lives. Life is too hard. Let's pray together, each one of us today, right now, accept Jesus in our lives. Let us let go of all the things we are holding on to, give it away to the One who is longing for our friendship and respect. What a joy and a blessing we will find, a peace will over come our soul as we begin to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Have a great weekend and joyous week ahead as we let go and let God in our lives!! Amen and amen.

Good Friday, is it?!

Holy Week, Good Friday, Resurrection, Rebirth, Renewed, Easter Bunny, Easter Eggs, Laughter, Tears, Rejoice, how was your week!

We got our week started off by welcoming our new family from Baker, Louisiana. The youth from Blackwater Methodist church arrived Friday night, staying at Grace, with Krysten welcoming them. They joined us for our outdoor friends visits Saturday morning. Everybody seemed to be doing fine in the camps. We visited with Turner for a few minutes, Richard was not home, then made our way to see Robert. Robert was working, but we met a new friend staying with Robert. Just as we were leaving Daniel walked up. We then went to see all the guys behind the macaroni factory. As the morning went along, the wind and cold seemed to get stronger and colder, so we ended our visits so the youth could get inside.

Just as we were getting ready to leave for our visits, we had a big group of men, some of their wives and children join us from Barksdale. The men are in a Bible study group at the base and wanted to do some work for us. They tilled the orchard area, they chomped up some limbs, some painted inside the center. What a great group of people.

Meant to share with you all, a couple of Saturdays ago, we had our first baby shower for our community center. One of our family, who helps us with our meals, asked us if she could host a baby shower for one of her daughters. Thought it was pretty cool, they would think of us to host such a special event. One step at a time, as we develop relationships with our neighbors.

Monday morning, Dawn met the youth from Blackwater at the center and more work was done. They began the huge task of getting the library back in order. Some continued painting our doors and trim in the hallway. Some decorated the tables in the fellowship hall for our Easter meal and some trimmed and edged our grounds. They worked all day long. Around noon Lomax joined in on the fun and hosted the group in the afternoon.

Tuesday morning our youth returned to finish up their projects and said goodbye at noon. What a special group of young people, taking their time and their energy, spending part of their spring break with us. Pictures are up on our Face book page.

Tuesday evening, Mr Matt and the men gathered for Bible fellowship. Matt read from Mark 14, talking about when Jesus was arrested and going through his trials, the disciples deserted him. Many times we ask, how in the world could the disciples do something like this, fall asleep when asked to pray, denounce they ever knew him, runaway at the first signs of trouble. During the discussions, we were asked, don't we do the same things now? How often, do we try to do it ourselves, only go to God when we have messed things up, let our pride and egos lead us instead of our humility.

Thursday was our Easter celebration. We got started off in chapel, by hearing the word from Pastor Eddie. He talked about the two on the road to Emmaus. As the two walked back home, reminiscing on what they had seen at the cross, worrying they had lost all hope for their future, not recognizing Jesus as he walked along side of them. Pastor reminded us, when we take our eyes off of Jesus, we will loose our way. When we take our eyes off of Jesus, our storms will overcome us.

Then Joey and his friends from the BCM from LSUS gathered all the eggs from Ms Vickie and her friends from Airline Baptist and hide them around the center. What a blessing to see all the children running and laughing as they were finding their treasures.

We had more friends from Airline Baptist supplying our meal of red beans and rice, salad and cookies for our meal. Ms Vickie brought candy treats for everyone also. Thanks to all for making it such a wonderful Easter celebration.

Don't forget, this Sunday morning, Easter Sunday, we will gather at the center at 6:45, waiting on the sunrise at 7:05 to make our annual Easter egg neighborhood walk. Everybody is welcome to join us. We have lots of eggs to hide, you can bring some if you would like, but come. Usually takes about an hour or so, plenty of time to get to church. 

Continued prayers for the Bollingers, Cari's treatments are accomplishing what the doctors are wanting and hopefully allowing them to move on to other procedures. For Joe and Abbie. You saw Ardis' report on Joe from Thursday night, a long road ahead for them. For William and James as they work together to keep their apartment. New challenges. 

Good Friday, I have struggled with it being called Good. Christ is beaten, spit upon, wearing a crown of thorns, bleeding, and then hung on a cross. What's good about that! I remember one Maundy Thursday service many years ago, seeing a video of the torture Jesus is put through and feeling sick. What's good about Good Friday, Jesus died for us! He did not die for himself, He died for us! With each slashing of the whip was another sin of the world taken away. A sin you and I commit, Jesus took away from us. Unbelievable! God lvoes us so much, He would allow His son to go through all of this for us, for you and me! Remarkable!

Doesn't the sacrifice made on Good Friday, make you want to live your life for Christ? Can't we humble ourselves enough to be the kind of servants Christ wants us to be, especially thinking what happened today so many years ago. Christ died for us, can't we die from our old lives and live for Him?!

Why don't we have Easter resolutions each year instead of New Year resolutions? If we turned our lives over to Christ, all things would be possible even our resolutions! What is holding you back from being the person God is wanting you to be? There is nothing God can't handle. Let it go, let God be in charge. Especially today, especially on Good Friday. This Friday is good because Jesus took away the sins of the world, so that we might have everlasting life. Don't let the torture Jesus went through be in vain. Lvoe Jesus, Lvoe God, Lvoe others! 

See you Sunday. Lvoe your family and friends, especially today! Amen!

38001!?

Just when you thought it was alright to start planting in the garden, we have cold weather approaching again. Our Easter cold snap is upon us! Oh well, what'cha going to do! Hope you week has been a good one, with lots of blessings and joys.

We got our week started off great with our Saturday morning breakfast. Momma T and her crew of young people from the neighborhood helped her cook, french toast, ham, serving fresh fruit, coffee and lots of good conversations. Don't forget, the third Saturday of each month we will gather for more good food and fellowship. Come and join us.

Momma T had her Christmas come early this year on Saturday! Her friend Jeff, brought her a wood chipper! Momma T spent all morning shredding limbs into mulch! You could hear her singing all morning long!

Tim, Matt and Scott went around to the camps after breakfast, serving up some of our breakfast leftovers. Everybody enjoyed the meals.

Tuesday, Ms Lisa and her van took another family from the neighborhood to Norton Gallery gardens. Lomax, Joey, Mara, a new friend Logan all joined in on the fun, pictures are up on our Face book page. A great afternoon, thanks to all for making this special event happen for the children.

Mr Matt got our Tuesday men's Bible fellowship started off, with a meal of spaghetti prepared by a friend of theirs, yummy! We then talked about Paul sharing how great is God for our lives, to remember He is in charge, and give Him all the Glory.

Wednesday evening we gathered at Ardis' house for our family Bible study. We are reading the book Dr Phil and his friend Harold wrote. We shared our thoughts on the introduction and the first chapter. In two weeks, we will gather at the Bright House and discuss chapters 2 and 3. 

Thursday evening got started off with chapel being led by the singing of our friend Spencer. The Word was shared by a new friend, Elbert Brown. Both did an outstanding job of using their gifts to praise God. Our meal was prepared by Tim, who spent  Sunday afternoon cooking on the grill. The pork was delicious as well as the rest of the meal. Thanks Tim. You need to do that more often! We had a large crowd of folks for supper. Ms Lisa handled the handing out of our grocery bags. We have had to make our bags smaller because of the numbers we are having, in order to make our budget stretch as far as possible. 

We will have two groups visiting us this Saturday. Our new friends from Blackwater Methodist church in Baton Rouge will be here. We will also have a group from Barksdale joining us. The youth from Blackwater will be around Grace Sunday, so please introduce yourselves to them. They will be with us through Tuesday.

We will have our annual Easter egg hunt for the neighborhood children Thursday afternoon following our meal. Ms Vicky and friends will bring some eggs. Joey and the BCM young adults will hide our eggs. Also, we will have a special appearance by our Easter bunny?! We can use all the eggs we can get, so if you can, please bring some by and join in on the fun please do so.

Also, it has become a family tradition, for us to hide eggs Easter Sunday around our neighborhood. We will gather at sunrise, bless the eggs and hide them in the yards as we walk around the neighborhood. This has become one of our biggest joys each year as we walk for Jesus. We are done in a couple of hours allowing you to get to church. Come and join us, bringing as many friends and family members as you would like, bringing as many eggs as you can. A joyous time!

We have talked about it in our mens Bible fellowship and we talked about it Wednesday evening, worshiping traditions or doctrines, loosing the power of Jesus. Harold wrote in the introduction, he was on fire for Jesus, reading the Bible everyday for more than 6 hours a day. He then came to the USA and began to be introduced to the various religions of the country. It was not long, he became lost, knowing the laws, knew what was right or wrong, but lost his passion for the Bible or the things of God.

Several years ago, I was attending a funeral for a friend. During the service, the pastor said, we are going to have communion now, but only for those who are members of our faith! When Jesus broke the bread and served the wine, he did not ask each disciple what "religion" are you? He only asked do you love my father?

Harold says in his book, there are over 38,000 Christian denominations! 38,000 that is amazing! Just in our little neighborhood of Cedar Grove, you can go a block or two, maybe three and find a church on every corner, why? Man has added, subtracted, multiplied, divided the Bible in so many ways, we have gotten away from the radicality of it. We are here to serve others, not ourselves.

I ask you to help me, for common ground not to become 38,001. Not another Christian denomination where we are more concerned about our beliefs, our traditions, our programs, and we loose our compassion for Christ. I guess that is why God has been convicting me for the last several months, it is not about mr brian, not about common ground, but about Christ who is in me. 

May we all allow the Holy Spirit, burning inside each one of us, to shine through us and that everything we do, we say, we are, allow the glory of God to be glorified. Exciting times are ahead of us as we become the people of God.

Have a great week, remembering our special celebration fast arriving next weekend. What a sacrifice His son made for us, may we honor that sacrifice in everything we do and say this week! Amen and Amen.

hearts

Spring has sprung in this part of the country! What a beautiful time of the year, buds coming out on the trees, blooms beginning to spring open on the plants, warmer weather, beautiful sunrises, sunsets, a new beginning, a new start, let's make it a glorious season, and show God's glory to all!

We got the week started off by welcoming some old friends from Crowley, Louisiana. Ms Julie and Mr Tim led the youth from First Methodist. They helped out around the center. Krysten met them Thursday evening at Grace. Mr Karl and Ms Dawn along with Krysten, met them at the center Friday morning working all morning long. Then Saturday morning they traveled around with us visiting our friends, worked more Saturday afternoon. They attended worship at Grace Saturday night before they left for home. What an awesome group of youth, huge hearts, lots of enthusiasm, and a whole lot of energy!

Momma T, Ms Lisa and Ms Heather gathered in the garden for U2 Saturday. A big group of neighbors joined in on the fun of making Easter baskets and Easter costumes. What a fun time. Pictures are one the web site.

I guess the highlight of our visits on Saturday was seeing a long lost friend, Daniel. He was lost but now he is found! He is living with Robert at the moment, but hoping to get a place of his own in the near future.

Monday afternoon, we met some new friends at the center. A group of youth from Tyler from Colonial Hills Baptist church joined us all afternoon working in the garden, taking down Christmas lights, painting in the center, and trimming trees. Krysten and Mr Karl met them and showed them around. They are part of a group called Mission Tyler, helping the least of them in their town. Great group of young people, tireless workers.

Tuesday afternoon, we had a field trip for our neighborhood children. Ms Lisa had her van and loaded up the kids and took them to Norton Arts Gallery gardens. Joey, Lomax, Krysten, Mara and our own Allison, home for spring break helped out. Beautiful afternoon for the trip. More trips are planned. Pictures are up on our web site about their adventure. Everybody needs to ask Lomax what he forgot to do that afternoon!?

Also on Tuesday, we had to say goodbye to one of our interns, Krysten. Well not good bye, but hello to the full time youth director of First Methodist church in Minden. The challenge of being a youth pastor, took more time than she thought, so she is leaving Common Ground as it's director and devoting her energy and time in leading the youth of Minden. Krysten will be living at the Bright House for the moment, so you will ample opportunity to say thanks for everything she has done for our community, our children and our friends. Thanks Krysten for a job well done.

Tuesday evening, the men gathered for Bible fellowship, reading from Philippians 4. Paul sharing what Christians should do. be full of joy in the Lord. Let everyone see you are gentle and kind. do not worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything. God's peace will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Wow, what words to live by, so simple, so pure, so full of peace, can't we do it?!

Wednesday, as we said goodbye to Krysten, God put us together with a new family member, Abbey Roubel. Abbey will be assuming Krysten's duties, as she said Thursday evening, I'm the new Krysten! She is full of life, a young mom and wife, and a caring heart for our community. If you see her at Grace or around the center, please introduce yourselves to her. She wants to get to know everybody and help out as much as she can.

Thursday afternoon, we had a return visit from our Tyler youth. They are on spring break this week, didn't finish their work on Monday, so they wanted to come back and do more work! Isn't that amazing. They worked all afternoon until it was time to help out Ms Abbie, Ms Dorothy in food pantry and preparing our meal. They served, cleaned, and washed dishes before they returned home! What a blessing!

Pastor Jackson and Wes led us in chapel. We opened up the doors to the chapel, so the songs and the Word of God could be heard to the streets! Wes and I had prepared some songs, but the Spirit got hold of Pastor and he went another direction! He had everybody standing, clapping, hollering, singing praises to the Lord! Tears of joy were flowing as we were covered in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pastor read from first Samuel, talking about God finding a king, looking at our hearts, not what others see. Very inspiring.

After chapel, our youth from Tyler was serving our food prepared by Momma T of chicken spaghetti, salad and brownies. Yummy! Ms Lisa, checked her grocery lists and the evening was great. Thanks to all for making our community meal such a special time.

Prayer concerns for the week, Charley and Noel are participating in the Kairos weekend at Wade. Prayers for Noel, as he waits for test results from his doctor. John Williams is leading the prayer team at a mens' Walk to Emauas. Prayers for Wes and Shannon. Their only son has left for the Marines and started his basic training. Prayers God will continue to lead us along our journeys. Continued prayers for Ms Sarah as she continues to lead teams of servants in Haiti. Prayers for Ms Abbie as she continues to recover from her eye surgery. Everything is fine, just taking time to heal.

Don't forget our third Saturday breakfast is this Saturday, March 16th, at 8:30. Momma T and her crew will be serving, french toast, bacon, fruit and hot coffee. Come if you can and enjoy the fellowship.

We will have another youth group joining us next weekend, Monday and Tuesday. The youth from Blackwater Methodist church in Baton Rouge will be coming. Please come by at some point and meet and greet them.

It's been awhile, since I have been asked, are you the preacher of this community. I was asked Thursday night. I told them, oh no, I am a nobody, just hanging around, trying to do what God wants of me. I was reminded of that Thursday at chapel when Pastor read from 1 Samuel 16, in verse 7, the Lord said to Samuel, "Don't look at how handsome Eliab is or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart."

The kingdoms set up by man are driven by greed, egos, power, oppression. Usually the strongest over power the weakest. And in time, man's kingdom will die. God's Kingdom is completely opposite. God does not look at the powerful, He looks at the common. He does not see strength, He sees compassion. God chooses to serve, rather than lead. God's Kingdom will never die.

If our community is to survive, we must allow God to use us in ways we may not understand. We must humble ourselves, allowing God to receive the glory. It is not about us and the way we do things, but about God and the way He wants things done. How exciting to allow God to flow through you and let the Holy Spirit shine in our community. It was evident Thursday night.

I was told a story Thursday night about a member of our neighborhood, who looks to Common Ground for peace and understanding. They do not find lvoe in the neighborhood, only in our community. When they are away, they miss it. What a testimony to all of you for being the kind of servants God is wanting us to be. How exciting to be a part of such special people.

Hope your weekend is great. Hope your weather is beautiful and you can enjoy it with your family and friends. Lvoe, Lvoe, Lvoe, Amen!

Lvoe continues

I am writing this note from Dallas this morning. We got a text from our son Thursday morning, to see if we could come over and baby sit our grandson today. We quickly agreed and have been playing all morning with him. It is nap time for the moment, so this will be a quick note. What a blessing, these little ones are! Thank you God.

Unfortunately, I was out of town last weekend, so don't know much about our visits. Mr Scott and Mr Tim will have to fill us in.

Tuesday evening, the men of the community gathered for Bible fellowship. Mr Matt read from Mark 10. James and John asking Jesus to sit at his right hand, pride and egos were running high. Jesus said, we have not come to lead but to serve. We have to be careful our pride and egos do not get hold of us as we come to celebrate God's lvoe each weekend. Does our everyday walks reflect Jesus' lvoe or do we have our own agendas?

Wednesday, we got to experience a remarkable event in the life of our community. Through the dedication of Dr Phil, the persistence of Ms Lisa, the generosity of Dan Poole and his company, with the gifts of craftsmanship of Dave, Travis and Willie, we dedicated the first JJ house and blessed all who will come through the doors. Pastor Roger led our dedication, Pastor Warren led us in the singing of Amazing Grace. We have all been to dedications before, a new room, a new building, a new church, but a new house in the middle of such darkness is truly amazing! I wonder when the last time something new has been built in the Cedar Grove neighborhood, 40 years, 50 years maybe more! This is only the beginning, God is up to something very powerful.

We prayed a prayer for the JJ house while Pastor Roger anointed the doorways with oil. The prayer could be used for all our homes. "God, bless this house and all who live and visit here. Fill this dwelling with an ambiance of peace, prosperity, health, happiness, harmony and love. Let this space shine with divine light and beauty and provide a warm, comfortable haven from the world. May only beings that are kind-hearted and well-intentioned enter here. Enter with your Holy Spirit and a welcomed friend. May all who enter here receive what they need, and fell richly blessed with their heart's desires." Amen.

Following the dedication, Lomax and Joey hosted our family gathering. It was decided we will begin studying Dr Phils book. First time in all our studies, when we have a question about what the author was saying, we can go straight to the "man" and ask. Let Dr Phil know if you need a book.

With mr brian out of town on Thursday evening, Ms Lisa, sent in a recap of the evening. Heather, Derrick and their dad got us started off in chapel. Then a new group of servants from Cypress Point Baptist church provided our meal. Thanks to Ms Vicki and Mr Matt, they shared our story with them and they wanted to come and help out. Being the first of the month, our numbers were small, so it provide more time for Ms Lisa and others to sit down with us and get to know us a little better.

I have fallen down on acknowledging birthdays, sorry to all. The month of March we had or having a bunch. Please sing happy birthday when you see them. Charley, Hat, Scott and Ms Sarah. Are there others?

Prayers for Dr Phil as he heads to the East coast to visit his children. He will be gone a week. Prayers for Ms Abbie. She had a procedure to repair a detached retina on Tuesday. She is fine but will be home for awhile. Beth and Charley asked for prayers, that God will send a Christian community across Wes 'path in China.Charley ask for prayers for those who are involved in the sex, slave industry. Prayers for the upcoming Kairos weekend.

Thursday evening, Krysten met our friends from First Methodist church in Crowley. They will be with us through Saturday. Ms Dawn and Mr Karl are working with them Friday morning. Saturday morning they will join us for our friends visits and then work with Momma T in the afternoon.

We also are having a classroom of young people joining us Friday morning to help us out.

We will have a new community coming Monday afternoon. Friends of Mission Tyler will be coming over and working with us. Some of our young adults visited with them last summer and made an impression on them. Through that relationship, Travis White wanted to come by for a visit.

If your schedule allows please go by and say Hi to all our friends!

The baby is stirring, His Majesty awakens! Play time is about to begin! This note will end!

Thank you all so much for being community. When someone leaves others step forward and the lvoe continues. What a pleasure to be a part of such a special family.

Have a great weekend with your family and friends. Amen.